THIS ISN’T just any lamppost. Nope. And those of you who offered to identify it…well, you were all correct.

Here’s what you said:

FROM BILL STICKELS III: This week’s “What is it” is the lamppost from the movie “Singin’ in the Rain.” Ironically, I just recently took photos of a local youth theatre company performing that very musical!

FROM PAUL COATES: It’s the street scene from Gene Kelly’s Singing in the Rain performance in the movie of the same name. Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse and Donald O’Connor were the other dancers in the movie.

FROM TERRY PUGH: It looks like the set for the movie “Singing in the Rain” starring Gene Kelly.

FROM JOEL: I believe that’s the lamppost around which Gene Kelly twirled while he sang in the rain.

FROM LYNNE HUMMELL: This is the lamp post from “Singing in the Rain.” Missing only Gene Kelly!

FROM JOE SHAW: “I’m siiiiiiiingin’ in the rain …”

FROM STAN SCHWARTZ: That looks a lot like the light pole Gene Kelly spun around while singing “Singing in the Rain” in the movie with the same title.

FROM JOHN PEERY: It’s the lamp post from Gene Kelly’s “Singing in the Rain.” Even though I’ve been around a while, this movie is even older than me.

FROM STEPHEN G: It’s the light pole from Singing in the Rain.

Here’s Gene, in one of Hollywood’s most iconic scenes:

This week:

This steering wheel is from what automobile?

GOT AN IDEA for the Whatzit? Email Ed at edh@henningerconsulting.com and we’ll do what we can to stump others!

HOW TO REPLY: Click on the “Leave a Comment” link at the very top of this post. (Of course, if someone’s gotten to it before you, it’ll say “XX Comments.”) Once you’ve clicked on that link, please use the “Leave a Reply” function. We love gettin’ your emails, but the Comment link is there to make it easier for you—and us!

IT’S THE BUSINESS END of a can opener…the kind in common use in the 1950s (and earlier). This one is “heavy duty,” with a wooden handle that made it more comfortable to use. Flip it over and the small hook on the top was a bottle opener. It took some care to open a can with this baby: one mistake and you could punch a hole in your hand. This one was sold in many stores, but some (photo at bottom) were made of all metal and were giveaways.

Here’s what you said:

FROM SANDY DODSON:

Can opener. (And later): I stated in a previous comment it was a can opener. It also is a bottle opener.

FROM DAWN LUITJENS:

It’s the end of a old fashioned bottle/can opener. I have one and it’s kind of a wicked tool, but it works great for removing paper off of cans or containers for recycling, too.

FROM NATE ABRAHAM:

Looks like a can opener used to open oil cans in the days when motor oil came in cans instead of bottles.

FROM JON WHITNEY:

Can opener. Might be military.

FROM WALT HAASE:

It’s a GI can opener. (Well…not really, Walt. But I may come back with one of those when you least suspect!).

FROM LYNNE HUMMELL:

This is the business end of an old-school can and bottle opener. I’m not sure exactly how it worked, although it seems obvious that one would use the shorter point to pop the top off a beer bottle. I think one would use the longer point to punch into the top of a can of beans. But how to get the entire lid off a can of beans? Perhaps that is accomplished by using other old-school techniques such as leverage, maybe even using the shorter part as a brace against the side of the can? Not sure – this was a little before my time, but I remember that my Dad had an old one.

FROM JOHN PEERY:

While it may look like a Medieval torture device, it’s actually a kitchen tool that, when I was growing up, we used to open bottles of soft drinks. I imagine my mom used it for other things as well.

For this week: Tell me what this is. Better yet, tell me where this is!

GOT AN IDEA for the Whatzit? Email Ed at edh@henningerconsulting.com and we’ll do what we can to stump others!

HOW TO REPLY: Click on the “Leave a Comment” link at the very top of this post. (Of course, if someone’s gotten to it before you, it’ll say “XX Comments.”) Once you’ve clicked on that link, please use the “Leave a Reply” function. We love gettin’ your emails, but the Comment link is there to make it easier for you—and us!

A BUNCH OF YOU responded to last week’s Whatzit. It’s a 1948 Tucker Torpedo, a car that was ahead of its time, with such innovations as four-wheel independent suspension, a rear-mounted flat six aluminum engine, a hydraulic drive system and four-wheel disc brakes. And, yes, the middle headlight turned with the steering wheel.

Here’s what you said:

FROM RANDY MANKIN:

It’s a ’48 Tucker.

FROM MELANIE SKILLMAN:

Tucker… unless there was another car made with a headlight in the center.

FROM MARILYN HOLMAN:

The car is a Studebaker. (Nope…it’s a Tucker).

FROM NATE ABRAHAM:

Tucker automobile.

FROM PAUL COATES:

It’s a 1948 Tucker Torpedo. There were only 51 of them manufactured and 48 are in collections around the world. One of them fetched $2.9 million at auction recently. The Torpedo had a rear engine, disc brakes and a center headlight that swivelled as you turned the steering wheel more than ten degrees. During WWII Preston Tucker built the Tucker Turret for machine guns.

FROM STAN SCHWARTZ:

Looks a lot like the front end of a 1948 Tucker Torpedo.

FROM JON WHITNEY:

It’s Tucker automobile; not sure what year, but about 1948, I think. That was the year I stood on the front seat of a 1946 Chevrolet between my dad’s legs as he let me drive for the first time at age four. Fun.

FROM WALT HAASE:

Looks like a Tucker to me. I think it’s a 1948. Only made 1 year. Saw one in the showroom (factory?) near Chicago when I was nine years old. Left an impression. It was maroon.

FRM LYNNE HUMMELL:

This is the ill-fated Tucker 48, one of only 51 that were made before the company went under in its first year. Its creator, Preston Tucker, took on the Big 3 car manufacturers in the 1940s and lost. Francis Ford Coppola made a movie about him, “Tucker: The Man and His Dream,” in 1988. Coppola’s father, Carmine, was an early investor in the Tucker business. Fascinating story.

Here’s this week’s Whatzit: What is this thing?

GOT AN IDEA for the Whatzit? Email Ed at edh@henningerconsulting.com and we’ll do what we can to stump others!

HOW TO REPLY: Click on the “Leave a Comment” link at the very top of this post. (Of course, if someone’s gotten to it before you, it’ll say “XX Comments.”) Once you’ve clicked on that link, please use the “Leave a Reply” function. We love gettin’ your emails, but the Comment link is there to make it easier for you—and us!

IT’S A DRAW KNIFE. Though the draw knife is still in use today to shape and smooth wood, knives just like this one go back centuries on farms, home sites and barns.

Here’s what you said (with a couple misses in the mix):

FROM DON FOY:

That’s a drawknife. Used by woodworkers to smooth wood.

FROM RANDY MANKIN:

That appears to be similar to the draw knife (a woodworking tool) that my Grandad used for shaving and shaping planks.

FROM MELANIE SKILLMAN:

I’m not sure of the official name, but it looks like a knife that would be used to shave bark off logs.

FROM MARILYN HOLMAN:

This week’s Whats’it is a two handle hand saw for cutting big rounds of cheese.

FROM STAN SCHWARTZ:

I’m gonna say it’s an old pizza slicer. Ya know from before they invented the wheel.

FROM PAUL COATES:

It’s a draw knife for woodworking. The single beveled blade is either drawn toward you or away from you to shape a wood surface. The adjustable handles allow the worker to change the handle angle or fold them flat for storage.

FROM LARISSA DONOVAN:

I think that’s an old drawknife for woodworking. I think my Guv (grandfather, long story) had one in his shop.

FROM JON WHITNEY:

A folding drawknife used in carpentry and associated woodworking. The handles of this one fold up to make storage a little easier and to protect the blade. I have 12 of them. A talented person can do wonders with them, particularly in chair-making and other areas demanding bark removal, making a concave area, etc.

That was easier than I thought!

This week…not so easy. Name this car.

GOT AN IDEA for the Whatzit? Email Ed at edh@henningerconsulting.com and we’ll do what we can to stump others!

HOW TO REPLY: Click on the “Leave a Comment” link at the very top of this post. (Of course, if someone’s gotten to it before you, it’ll say “XX Comments.”) Once you’ve clicked on that link, please use the “Leave a Reply” function. We love gettin’ your emails, but the Comment link is there to make it easier for you—and us!

IF YOU’RE BENEATH this dome, you’re standing in the Basilica of St. Peter in the heart of Vatican City.

Two of you took a shot at this one. One of you was right, the other…well…had the right idea.

FROM LYNNE HUMMELL:

Ahh, when in Rome, one must see the Dome. It’s the ornate dome at St. Peter’s Basilica, also known as Michelangelo’s Dome. That was my first guess, and I got a clue from the inscription at the very top – Pontif V S. Petrigloriae. When I went online to check my guess, I discovered that one can climb up and see the dome close up. If you enlarge the photo you posted, at the very bottom, slightly right of center, you can barely see four figures. I believe these to be people on that upper deck – and that’s a sort of fence behind them. It apparently goes around the circumference of the dome so people can walk all the way around it. Here’s a very close up shot:

FROM DIANE ERICKSON:

Looking up in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

Ah, Diane, you’ve given me an idea. don’t be surprised if you see St. Paul’s as anothe Whatzit somewhere down the line!

This week’s Whatzit is (can’t ya tell?) an automobile. An amazing automobile … beautifully designed. But which one?

GOT AN IDEA for the Whatzit? Email Ed at edh@henningerconsulting.com and we’ll do what we can to stump others!

HOW TO REPLY: Click on the “Leave a Comment” link at the very top of this post. (Of course, if someone’s gotten to it before you, it’ll say “XX Comments.”) Once you’ve clicked on that link, please use the “Leave a Reply” function. We love gettin’ your emails, but the Comment link is there to make it easier for you—and us!